1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of packaging and containers, and particularly to plastic containers having a cover thermoformed from a sheet of plastic, the cover having an integral lid which is intended to be repeatedly closed and reopened.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several different products are currently packaged in reclosable dispenser packages which have covers with integral lids which close onto a portion of the remainder of the cover. One type of dispenser package includes a cover having an opening therein and an integral lid which closes onto the opening and a portion of the cover which surrounds the opening. The portion of the cover which surrounds the opening forms an arresting platform upon which the lid rests when closed over the opening. This type of thermoplastic container, however, generally has a cover which is either originally formed from two separate sheets of plastic, one to form the lid and the other to form the remainder of the cover, which are later joined together, or are formed from some process which does not involve the thermoforming of sheets of plastic at all.
Other types of packages have container bodies which are closed with a cover which is divided into two portions, a stationary portion and a movable door portion which forms the lid. In this type of packaging system, the movable door portion or lid closes onto the container base itself and not onto any portion of the remaining cover. When the lid is open, this type of cover is secured to the container base only by the stationary portion of the cover. The lid or movable door portion, often which is a large portion of the cover, is released from the base when opened. As a result, the cover may not be held onto the base very securely when open. Additionally, often this type of container is not made by the thermoforming of plastic sheets.
The thermoforming of thin sheets of plastic material to form packages is a simple and inexpensive process for manufacturing packaging containers. While such a process might be used to thermoform a cover with integral lid which closes over an opening within the cover and a portion of the cover surrounding the opening, prior to the present invention the process would involve using two separate sheets of plastic to form the cover and integral lid which are subsequently joined together. Consequently, there is a need for a cover which is thermoformed from a single sheet of thin plastic material, which cover has a lid that can close onto an opening within the cover in such a fashion that when closed the lid also rests on a portion of the remaining cover which surrounds the opening. Since the remaining portion of the cover entirely surrounds the lid, the cover may be permanently secured to the base of the container wherever the cover and base meet.